The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-28
WELLS MUST BE DUG DEEPER
Evidences that the First Water Level in
the City Is Rapidly Failing.
In Consequence, 1t Will Be Necessary. an Ex-
pert Says, to Sink All Wells to the Sec
0nd Level in Few Years.

"Do you think this rain will help the wells
any?" asked Journal reporter of r. r. Rouse
yesterday.
mot unless it continues for some time" he re-
piled ssIt will take a considerable rain fall to
wet the surface ground now, ana the greater
part of onr rain will be drained off You need
not look for any rise of water in wells until the
streams RISE
what proportion of the wells of the city are
dry2a
81 think that fully 80 per cent of the dug
wells are below the point at which they can be
pumped. This has been very hard season.
and many wells have given out that never did
before We deepened the well in Lewarks
stable the other day. and it had never been dry
in twenty years before. You can judge of the
severity of the season from one instance. In
well which went dry last week, at the corner of
Pearl and California streets, there was four feet
of water in May That represents the fall of
the upper water stratum during the summer and
fall"
"Do you hear of many wells going dry outside
the city?"
Lots of them There is the same trouble
everywhere the same water level. Illinois
is having worse siege of drought than we are.
In Paris, H., there is no water except from the
water-works. In Bloomington, ILL.,, the only
water they have is pumped from an old coal pit
Farmers are also Inconvenience by the drying
up of the small streams. which forces many OF
them to haul water for their stock"
81 suppose it will all come back again with the
heavy rains and SHOWS of the winter9'
mo, not all of H. There has been a continu-
GUS fall IN the waterlevel here for number of
years 1t has dropped at least five feet in the
last ten years. At Kentucky avenue and Wash
ngton streets could strike water ten years
ago at fifteen sixteen feet; now we get 1t at
Twenty-Five The difference is about the same
all over the city We have to 90 from four to
six feet deeper than then. The only places that
vary much from that are those where the water
has gone out entirely above the clay. On
Fletcher avenue, for instance, Gve used to get
water at twenty-eght feet; have to go
from forty sixty feet, passing through the
clay that underlies what we commonly call first
the same. White river will average five feet
less OF water the year round than 1t did ten yeaes
ago.
'"Thats out of my line Scientific men have
different theories for it, but the one that seems
most reasonable to me is the clearing-up of the
country and the drainage. If you cut down for
ests and lot the sun get to the earth. of course
more water will evaporate. If You put drain
three feet under the surface of field it will dry
the soil to that depth and leave so much less
water to percolate through the clay. When
they put the sewer through Washington street
and kentucky avenue it took the bottom out of
all the wells in the neighborhood. 1t simply
drained the soil to it's own depth. There is one
other thing that affects the local water level in
dug wells. There a number of big wells
here that make a heavy drain on the water.
some Of them a million gallons day. Take wells
like those at the Grand. the Bates, Englishs,
Fletcher & Shapes Block. the Journal Build
ing and the Sentinel Building they necessarily
affect the small wells near them. because they
take the water away from them"
do you think there is any probability that
the upper water-level will fail entirelyP
Eyes, sir. / should not be at all surprised
if in ten years from what we call first
water would be unreliable as to pass out OF
use altogether In that case the wells would all
be put down to the second water at a depth of
from forty to sixty feet"
Would it furnish perpetual supplyW
Eyes. 1t never rises or falls. 1t s in use now
very largely. They have it at the Rolling
Mills, at KIngan's. the Starch Works. the Bolt
Works, and a number of other manufactures;
also at the breweries the Blind Asylum. Deaf
and Dumb Asylum. Insane Asylum. and Female
Reformatory. That is the reason they are never
troubled by failure of water The second
water is better than the first, also. 1t analyses
pure, except a trace of maznesia-